ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Rawalpindi on Thursday gave Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri one month to surrender in a case related to the attack and kidnapping of policemen in the district of Jhelum three months ago.

A day earlier, another ATC in Islamabad issued non-bailable warrants for the arrest of Dr Qadri along with Pakistan Tehreek-iInsaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan and several other senior leaders of PAT and PTI in cases registered against them for storming the Parliament House and the Pakistan Television (PT V) building in August.

As per the FIR registered with theLillah police station of Jhelum, the PAT workers on August 8, 2014, staged a protest demonstration on the call of Dr Qadri.

The FIR alleged that the PAT workers attacked, injured and made the police officials hostage.

ATC Judge Chaudhry Abdul Qayyum on September 13 issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Dr Qadri and 11 activists of his party. The police had arrested 110 PAT workers in the case.

During the proceedings on the case, Shakeel Zafar, the station house officer (SHO) of Lillah, informed the court that the custody of Dr Qadri was required for the investigation of the case.

He requested the court to declare Dr Qadri a proclaimed offender.

Subsequently, the ATC judge issued the proclamation directing Dr Qadri to surrender before the court within one month.

Former deputy attorney general Tariq Mehmood Jahangirl told Dawn that when anaccusedcouldnotbe broughtbefore the court the police request for the issuance of a proclamation.He said after the issuance of a proclamation if an accused failed to surrender before the court within the given time, the court would start the process for the confiscation of his property and declare the accused as an absconder.

It may be mentioned that in the Benazir Bhutto murder case, an ATC in Rawalpindi attached the properties of former president Pervez Musharraf after he failed to surrender to the court even after the issuance of the proclamation.

However, PAT president Dr Rahig Ahmed Abbasi told Dawn that `Dr Qadri will come back to the country and surrender before the court.

He said such litigation could not shake the confidence of the PAT leadership.

`It is a political case PML-N leaders Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif made against the PAT leadership and workers,` he said, adding: `The Sharif brothers are real terrorists as they murdered 14 innocent PAT workers and cases of terrorism should be registered against them, instead of Dr Qadri.